The Assistant coach was speculated to be taking over as Celtic's Manager

Ryan Giggs was not present for Manchester United’s 3-0 win over Stoke City due to an illness to one of his family members. The assistant coach was allowed compassionate leave by Louis Van Gaal to attend to a relative who fell sick.

The Red Devils turned in probably their best performance of the season as they demolished Stoke City with a fine display of attacking football. The win has given the manager temporary respite from fans and critics after he came under heavy criticism for the loss to Southampton.

United legend Ryan Giggs is a possible candidate to replace Louis Van Gaal on a temporary basis if the Dutchman departs in the summer. The United legend missed his side’s fine performance as Martial once again was at the heart of their attack.

The young French winger scored one and made another, and was taken off 11 minutes before the whistle to a deserved standing ovation from the Old Trafford faithful. Giggs, a terroriser of defences in his day would have certainly been proud of a performance like that.

Lingard opened the scoring for the hosts in the 14th minute heading in a Borthwick-Jackson cross. That goal broke United’s 12-game drought of not scoring in the first half at home to the relief of their supporters. Nine minutes later Martial added a second with a fine curling finish before setting up Rooney in the second half to end the match as a contest.

Giggs to Celtic rumours false

Earlier there were several reports suggesting that the 42-year-old was missing because he was off to Glasgow to become the next Celtic manager. Those rumours turned out to be incorrect as he was attending to an illness to one of his family members.

The speculation began after twitter reports surfaced of the Assistant coach set to sign for Glasgow Giants Celtic in the next 48 hours. But the turned out to be false and Giggs remains committed to his current role at the club.

That didn’t stop the Bookies who fell for the rumours as they slashed the odds on Giggs talking the rains at Celtic. The Scottish club’s current boss is under some pressure after his club lost a cup tie agianst Ross County thus ending their chances of winning a doemstic treble.

GIggs is set to return to the dugout for United’s clash against relegation threatened Swansea on Saturday.